Dublin is a city of more than 1,000 start-ups

Despite entrepreneurial fervour, Dublin start-ups run the gauntlet of poor seed funding and a paucity of investment in women-led businesses.

As Dublin Startup Week kicks off, a new infographic from TechIreland entitled Disruptive Dublin reveals that the city is home to 1,190 start-ups.

Techstars’ Dublin Startup Week takes place from 19 to 23 November, a five-day series of free networking events, keynotes, panel discussions and workshops. Organised in collaboration with Dublin City Council, Dublin Startup Week aims to capitalise on the increase in entrepreneurial fervour gripping the city.

The Disruptive Dublin data indicates that one in five (20pc) have attracted more than €1m in funding. It also reveals Dublin to be a hotbed of disruptive technology.

Internet of things (IoT) start-ups include Hub Controller, Wia, Cesanta, Firmwave and HealthBeacon, to name a few.

Dublin can be an unfair city

But there is bad news, too. The funding picture reveals how little venture funding is going to women-led companies and that the dearth of seed funding in Ireland is taking its toll.

“The snapshot, however, also exposes the paucity of funding for female-founded companies in Dublin in 2018, with only €22m of the €482m TechIreland is tracking in the first three quarters of the year attributable to female-founded companies,” said TechIreland CEO Niamh Bushnell.

“A deeper look into the anatomy of the funding we’re tracking Q1 to Q3 2018 also reveals that a full €365m of the €482m total secured was invested in no more than eight companies – a pure 80:20 story and one that, when properly understood, again underlines the dearth of seed funding across the board for companies in Ireland this year,” Bushnell warned.